St. Petersburg, Florida -- Police say twin toddlers made their way out of a St. Petersburg house and fell into a backyard swimming pool, where they nearly drowned.

They 14-month-old twin boys were rushed to All Children's Hospital Monday night, where they are in critical condition in the hospital's intensive care unit.

St. Petersburg Police say based on preliminary information, the children's grandmother opened a sliding glass door to step outside to smoke a cigarette. When she went back inside, she apparently did not close the door all the way, and that's how the children got out.

The boys' parents were in the house at the time and began to notice they were missing. They estimated the toddlers were out of sight for about 10 minutes. During their search, they noticed the sliding glass door was partially open.

When they went outside, they found both boys floating face down in the pool.

The father jumped in and pulled the two boys out of the pool as the mother and a great aunt performed CPR on the children until paramedics arrived.

In drownings of little kids, they often fall into the water almost silently, with no splashing and no struggle. That may have been magnified in this case; multiple families live in that same house and several people who live there are deaf.

10 News knocked on the door at the home where the children live and a woman answered and said, "I'm deaf." A teenager used sign language to communicate with her and the woman said they did not want to discuss the situation publicly.

If you have a swimming pool in your life, take this seriously. Drowning is responsible for more deaths among kids ages 1-4 than any other cause, except birth defects.

A child will generally lose consciousness about two minutes after they go underwater, according to Safe Kids USA. Irreversible brain damage happens within four to six minutes.